A Break in the Rain: Nica Nugget #101

While Hurricane Laura makes landfall in the United States, we’ve had our own unrelated tropical depression happening here in San Juan del Sur. Since last week, the skies have been overcast and rainy. The dirt roads have turned to mud and puddles. The air temperature has cooled. And my husband has come down with his annual cold, although now in August rather than in September like the past two years. I too was feeling headachy and congested over the weekend, so I too stayed indoors. But how frustrating and curious. We have been so incredibly cautious these past almost 6 …

Continue Reading

Bringing Our Boats In: Nica Nugget #92

Last weekend’s weather forecast called for a severe storm. Fishermen brought their boats in. The severe storm missed us, lashing out at El Salvador to the north of us instead. But our waves were big and loud. And our high tide was very high. The rains came and the brown of landscape turned a glorious riotous green. Workers with machinery arrived at the estuary and punched a channel out from the river to the sea. So the river could easily flow with the rains and not get all choked up. In my home country, the United States, the forecast is …

Continue Reading

First Gifts of Rain: Nica Nugget #90

My neighbor, Juaquin, calls them Papallomollo, the flying creatures that dropped their wings at my door last night and began their terrestrial existence. The crabs, I don’t know their name nor where they have been all of dry season, but today I saw them on the road at the top of Pacific Marlin by Cristo. And later along the scree where the hillside turns into the beach. And the brilliance of the air and sea! As if rain drops could settle the dust down to the bottom of the sea. And Nella. She finally, after months, left the shady bush …

Continue Reading

Torrential Rain: Nica Nugget #15

The past two mornings I’ve awakened to torrential rains. It pounded on the plastic tiles on the roof of our porch and poured down the gutter spouts. It even entered through hairpin cracks under the aluminum windows in our bathrooms, ran down the walls and puddled on the floor. I never left the house yesterday for the first time in over a month since we’ve been back. But today when the downpour ended we had to stretch our legs. With the rain and the high tides and the human dredging of the sand, the river has finally broken through to …

Continue Reading

Jungle Hike in Rain: Nica Nugget #2

Our friend Summer has been telling us about a waterfall near her house so today John and I joined her on a hike to it. The trail was so overgrown in places we feared stepping on venomous snakes and had to backtrack at one point. There were gorgeous spiderwebs with fat, striped spiders. A field of small, darting butterflies. And then a butterfly so large I said no, it’s a bird, as it partly disappeared into a tree. And John said no, it’s a bat, as we crept up to it and stared at the dark form. And Summer said no, …

Continue Reading

Suwannee: Day 46, Florida CT Paddle 3.30.18

Dear Reader, I’m writing to you while laying on a motel-room bed in Suwannee, Florida, trying to focus while the TV drones in the background with the nation’s weather forecast. It’s dry in here. And the hot shower was sweet. Now, getting here was a different story. We packed up this morning while the winds were still kicked up and blowing foam upon the grasses. Rain clouds were moving in and we wanted our gear to be packed and stowed while dry. We succeeded with that but started to get cold while we waited for the winds to slow, so …

Continue Reading

Layover Crooked River Campsite X: Day 28, Florida CT Paddle 3.12.18

Dear Reader, As soon as I signed off last night, the rains came and pounded on the tent like a drum and thunder boomed in the distance. Once it quelled, I got up to pee and stumbled to the river’s edge by headlamp. No wonder it’s a swamp. The kayaks were practically floating in the puddles that had formed beneath them even as they sat on high ground. I looked furtively about with my headlamp in the otherwise pitch black of the moonless night, half expecting to find an alligator by my side, and dashed back to the tent thinking …

Continue Reading

Crooked River Campsite X: Day 27, Florida CT Paddle 3.11.18

Dear Reader, When John woke up this morning, his fever had broken. He had a headache and didn’t feel 100% but felt good enough to keep paddling. While we were packing up, two fishermen pulled up in their truck and launched their boat. When asked what they were fishing for they answered “we’re just going to throw in some bait on the end of a line and see what bites.” And then they rattled off some fish names, the only one I recognized being Bass. The river widened and stretched out some of its kinks as we paddled away from …

Continue Reading